The basic architecture of a Judicial Mechanism to try war crimes cases will be finalized by January-February 2017, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, said.

Briefing the media on his just concluded visit to Geneva to address the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and also to engage with the Tamil Diaspora, Samaraweera said that the Judicial Mechanism will be established after consulting all the stakeholders, especially the victims.

On the controversial issue of accepting or rejecting foreign judges and prosecutors, the Minister said that all options will be examined during the stakeholder consultation process.

Asked to comment on President Maithripala Sirisena’s oft-repeated pledge not to accept foreign judges, the Foreign Minister said that it was the President’s opinion.

“In a democracy everybody, including the President and Prime Minister, is entitled to voice an opinion. But the final decision on the nature of the Judicial Mechanism will be based on wide consultations,” Samaraweera clarified.

On the question of the independence and impartiality of Lankan judges, in the light of doubts if they would be neutral in cases involving members of the armed forces, the Minister said that in several cases in the past involving the military, men in uniform had been punished by the judiciary.
He cited a couple of well known cases including the Krishanthi Kumwaraswamy rape and murder case involving troops stationed in Jaffna.

-NIE
-Agencies